Home boat builder plans. Where do you start?

For a number of years now I have been reading books about boat building. The one issue I still do not understand is how you go about getting plans for your proposed vessel. For example, say you had a vision of building a 42 foot blue water vessel over the next 10 years how would you go about finding plans. There are of course a handful of online sites selling plans (most are unappealing on the eye), but if you want an elegant classic style like those of the Sparkman & Stephens ilk, do you have to employ a yacht designer and accept that classic designs are not off the shelf and will cost you dear?

Thanks

 

Look at the plans on the Glen-L Marine website

 

You don't have to commission a great yacht designer to design you a boat from scratch. They - or their heirs - will have a large library of past designs that they will be more than happy to produce off the shelf for you.

 

To me, a blue water ocean going yacht needs to look classic, like the one below.



I struggle to find these designs with modern rigs off the shelf

 

There are lots of stock designs that will fit the bill, though these will typically be era oriented, so the modern rig aspect of the design will need to be an upgrade, either from the original designer or someone else.

This is Billy Atkins Meridian and a 39' 4" yawl, not intended to be a compromise CCA boat, just a healthy cruiser, with the era styling trends.





S&S still offers their old plans such as #273



So, if you want one of these, they're available.

 

"S&S still offers their old plans such as #273"

Now that is a wonderful looking yacht. I can picture it brought into 2015 with modern rigging and a lovely curved cockpit. S&S do not make it very public that they have plans available. Is this because they will only release their plans to actual yacht builders and a "backyard builder" would not be deemed appropriate to build such a wonderful classic?

 

S&S doesn't have any built in bias that I'm aware of, though building 273 would be a professional build, if only because of the scale of a project like that. Simply put, rolling over 60'+ yachts in your backyard isn't something a novice builder should even consider. Once a boat gets over say 30', the average backyard builder just has a lot of difficulty, because of the scale of the build. This isn't to say you can't, maybe you can, but as a rule only experienced builders take on these larger projects, with any expectation of success. How much building experience do you have?

 

There are many good classic designs out there, but like women, it is hard to pick the right one. My experience is that more often than not they end up picking you.

Where do you intend to sail her when she is built, or are you more interested in the building? Do you intend to do any sailing while you are building her?

 

In terms of the questions posed above.

I agree that a 60ft yacht built in a backyard is never going to fly as it would be a massive project. My background is a furniture maker so I have very good carpentry skills and have done a fair amount of fibre glass work and lamination work as well.

For me I am just interested in exploring the possible options of building a boat. I enjoy looking at a process and seeing how you can improve the task so you can do it quicker.

So nothing is set in stone regarding how / when I build, but if you gave me a choice of hand cutting / planing items or looking at the process and employing a cnc machine, the later would be option 1 for me.

 

Take a look these plans: http://dixdesign.com/sh39.htm There are plans for 39' and 45' versions of "Shearwater", the most traditional looking of Dudley Dixs' wooden boat plans. The underbody of them is much more modern and they are designed with the amateur builder in mind.

 

"...you had a vision of building a 42 foot blue water vessel over the next 10 years..."
the very best advice bar none: DON'T!

 

Try looking at Sam Devlin's designs. http://devlinboat.com/